The Hawaii Governor josh green joins us this hour with an update on the crisis, and urgent evacuation. Also a proposed january 2nd trial date. The Special Counsels team hoping to start the trial just ahead of the January 6th Anniversary and first republican president ial contest. And americans released from a notorious prison in iran. Five wrongfully held u. S. Citizens now under house arrest in a potential step toward freedom. Were learning more about why they were moved and how it could wind up helping iran. Welcome to our viewer here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the Situation Room. Lets get right to the Wildfire Disasters in hawaii right now. Its now killed at least 36 people. The death toll expected to keep climbing as prime Tourist Havens become charred ruins. Lets go to derek van dam, who just filed this report. Reporter tonight fires on the Island Of Maui continuing to burn out of control, as new federal help is now being goods patched amid unprecedented whyspread destruction. Seems like this becoming more common. Businesses melted, historical sites gone. Homes reduced to ash and smoke. At least three dozen people have died. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Officials say hundreds of families are displaced. Everybody in our naked lost everybody. Mark stepples home is gone as much of the Tourist Destination and hub. He made a harrowing heartbreaking escape. We ran downstairs, and we lost a cat and a dog because of confusion. The fire just engulfed our house. Reporter Officials Say winds associated with Hurricane Dora helped fuel the fires that have now impacted more than 250 structures in lahaina, plus hawaiis big island. These beforeandafter images near a beach resort are staggering. Same with this stretch of beach, where a number of buildings are simply gone. Today President Joe Biden approving a Disaster Declaringation for hawaii, providing federal financial assistance. The pentagon now activating more than 100 National Guardsmen to help in the response. Anyone who lost a loved one or their homes destroyed will get help immediately. Everything that we know, in all my 50 years of life, is completely burned to the ground. Reporter today residents and tourists alike finding refuge in a Honolulu Convention center. We just had to outrun a fire. Reporter residents look at the month mental task ahead. Its a loss of our entire community, our town that weve known it to be for generations. Its completely devastating. We are shook to our core. Reporter as severe Drought Conditions to continue to intensify in maui county, there is sciencebacked research that attributes our wildfires to a changing climate. 90 of hawaii is actually seeing less rainfall than a century ago. The fingerprints of Climate Change written all over this story. Indeed. Lets go to maui. Veronica miracle is on the scene for us. What are you seeing and what are you hearing . Wolf, absolute devastation on the ground. This group of volunteers have come together in the last hours. They put out a call asking people to bring donation and people have been coming in droves. They plaque a boat and trailer to the brim. Its already on its way to those stuck in lahaina. And another trailer will be on its way soon. The people had firsthand accounts. Others actually experienced the devastation themselves. One man i just spoke with escaped the flames. He lost his house, lost his car, barely got out with his life. Take a listen. Theres more than 36 people that didnt make it. I tried to warn as many people as i could. There was a lot of people. It was so chaotic. There were no phone connections, as much as i was trying to save, there were no options, they just had to go. I went in and got my kids. We were stuck, and now i got the news so many friends that i dont think they made it. Reporter thats just one story, there are many, and theyre absolutely heartbreaking the numbers are staggering. Right now 36 people reported dead. As we know, there are more feared to be dead. The coast guard saying they had to rescue 250 people from the ocean, those who jumped in trying to escape the flames. More than 11,000 people remain without power. Thats why the Boat Shipments and trailers heading to them, they are so critical right now, as people are just trying to survive. Wolf . Our hearts go out to all those families. Veronica, thank you very much. Lets get as update from governor josh green. Hes joining us from maui. Thank you for taking a moment to update our viewers in the u. S. And around the world. I know you toured one of the most devastated parts of maui. What are you seeing on the ground there . Aloha, wolf. In fact im walking on front street in lahaina, talking to a Satellite Phone with you. Theres no doubt everyone would describe it as if a bomb hit lahaina. It looks like total devastation, buildings that we have all enjoy and celebrated together for dec decades, for generations, are completely destroyed, and i mean mold ser still. Some church, some stones are still up. Were grateful to the president. He was very generous already with us, providing support through fema. But it is destroyed. We will have hundreds of families displaced. Well begin to recover soon. First well find out the extent of the loss of life. Well get to that in a moment. I know you had a conversation with President Biden earlier today. How soon under his federal disaster aid actually starts making a real difference in hawaii . And where is it needed most right now, governor . Well, its made a difference in our spirit already this morning, knowing well have resources for displaced families. Thats a big deal. It could be days before we see resource come for the many families that need help. Its more time for insurance to kick in, which well also be advocating for. We are standing with the leadership of fema, theyre already on the ground. Were grateful for them. We had our Leadership Teams of about 80 people today preparing the strategy we have to put in place to get or people well again. It only too six hours for President Biden to approve or emergency request, just six hours. I signed the order at governor about ten minutes after midnight. By 6 20 in the morning, he was already calling and saying yesterday. Were grateful for that kind of just really thoughtful response for our state. Earlier today, governor, the authorities reported 36 people in hawaii have been killed in this disaster. Is that the most recent number you have as well . The number is higher, wolf. I have to share and tragically well be releasing new number about 3 30 hawaii time today. We are only now getting some of our searchandrescue personnel into other houses. There are helicopters floating around the community right now. That number will go up very significantly. Our hearts are out to all the families. We havent had a loss of life instance like this for many years. In Hawaii Statehood Which began in 1959, we only had two events with more fatalities. In 1960 we had 61 fatalities when a large wave came through the big island. This time, very likely or death totals will meet that. I want to follow up on that point, governor. I know youre going to announce formally, but what is the latest number you have now that you can share with us . Well, out of respect to the mayor, its about 20 higher already. Im cautious, because they are right now making sure we dont duplicate any casualties. One of things we always learn as an emergency room figures, we dont want to say anything that makes more panic, but as we get into more houses that were overwhelmed, we have great concerns that well find people that werent able to escape. Our teams are working diligently. It is a challenging place, because we dont have a lot of resources in some cases, whether its health care or mortuary resources. Were careful about that. Ill tell you, by the time this disaster is all described, im sure there will be dozens of people that lost their lives, and billions of property that was destroyed. We just thank everyone on the mainland for support. Were with you, governor every step of the way. How many people are in shelters in hawaii right now . And how many are unaccounted for . Do you have those numbers . I do. It was over 2,000 people at points in shelters or at the airport. What were doing right now is telling people if they dont need to be in maui, that we ask them to be in other parts of hawaii. We had over 2,000 people at one point, i believe, sheltered. As you reported earlier, over 11,000 people are without power right now on west maui. Gradually we will find permanent housing for individuals, but that will be one of our largest lifts. Interestingly were already under an Emergency Order because our team is trying to build housing because of the shortage in our state, and now its worse. It looked to be make up to 1700 buildings destroyed. Our initial counts were 300 range, but having just walked the full length of front street, our eyes are watering from the smoke still, you can imagine how many other people are still displaced and that we havent accounted for. We know the fire in lahaina were told about 80 contained. Governor, how long will it be under all fires are under control . The fire is very well controlled in lahaina now. We just walked the full extent of it. It was described [ inaudible ] its really heroic effort of the firefighters on maui that fought this. [ inaudible ] i believe they were working hard, but it looks to be no winds from from [ inaudible ] although. Were losing that connection, governor, which is understandable given whats going on in hawaii right now. We want to just thank you so much for spending a few moments with us. Good luck to you, good luck to all the people of hawaii. Were with you every step of the way. Thank you so much for joining us. Can i say one last thing . Please. If people want to support hawaii, go to the Hawaiian Community foundation. The Hawaiian Community foundation is raising money for the recovery. Its the most reputable in hawaii and a lot of people will be helped. I just want to also share with our viewers, some information we have here at cnn how you, our viewers with help. Go to cnn. Com impact, or text hawaii to 707070 to donate. Really important. If you can do that, everybody were grateful. Governor josh green, thank show so much for joining us. Well continue to check in. Sadly, the story is not going away. Just ahead, other news were following, the Special Counsel reveals his preferred start date for Donald Trumps election subversion trial. Will the judge agree to try the former president s case just before the first republican primary ked ex . Well be right back. jack were standing up for our right to be lazy. jan by sitting down. ronald and Reclining Back lyn we work fulltime and parent fulltime. lyns husband we will be reclined until further noti. andi its our right to let the dishes soak overnight. rob and to mow the lawn. Tomorrowish. ben we proudly declare that yes, we are still tching that. ariel and no, we wont be cooking tonight. damon we, the lazy, are taking back lazy. doreen . By getting comfy on our lazboy furniture. vo lazboy. Long live the lazy. You tried. Limiting when it was okay. No tech behind closed doors. 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Theres a story in every piece of land. Run with us on a John Deere Gator xuv and start telling yours. The Special Counsel jack smith is looking to moving very, very quickly in his 2020 election subversion case against donald trump, asking a federal judge to start the trial on january 2nd of next year. Our Senior Legal Affairs corr correspondent paula reid joins us now. We also understand how long he expects the government to start presenting his case. They want this case to start first thing, and it will take about four to six weeks. The Special Counsel argues this would vindicate the Public Interest in a speedy trial, but this would also come during the first two months of an Election Year during a critical time for any candidate when primary voting for republicans will begin. If he was to be on trial, that would mean trump, the candidate, would be spending most of his weekdays likely in a courtroom. Theres another wrinkle. The Special Counsel has revealed theres at least some classified evidence in this case. Thats significant. That could potentially delay this just a little bill. The Special Counsel insists even with that evidence, theyre still on track to begin january 2nd next year, but the Defense Attorneys also have a chance to weigh in, and they expect theyll likely ask to delay this until after the 2024 election. All of this will be sorted out, that would supposed to be the first hearing, but in fact well all by in Court Tomorrow for the first hearing, as the judge hears arguments on how sensitive evidence in this case will be handled. Its very important. Well cover that, obviously. In the other case brought by the Special Counsel over classified documents in maralago, we saw both trumps companies defendants in court. They were both in court, only one was arraigned. Walt nauta pleaded not guilty, but the other Codefendant Car Log De Oliveira was not arraigned, because he doesnt are a florida attorney. Were told by florida Defense Attorneys that there are concerns about going paid and its fraught with concerns. And of course, all of these problems about retaining counsel also had the added impact, and for them, a benefit of delaying here and there, and that all adds up. Paula, stay with us. I also want to bring in eli hoenig. The Special Counsel wants to start this on january 2nd. What kind of complications would there be starting then . Wolf, thats an extraordinarily aggressive ask by the team at doj. First of all, what doj has asked for is a trial date starting in early january with Jury Selection to start in mid december. That means the trump team would have about four months to get ready for tile. Its virtually unheard you have to have any Conspiracy Trial go anywhere near that quickly. At a minimum, a case like that in a federal system would typically take a year to a year and a half. On the back end, as paula noted, even if this tay two to three months to try in january, theyll run right into and perhaps over the current march start date for the Hush Money Trial scheduled here in new york. So something has to gift one way or another. Yeah, something has to give clearly. Elliott, its interesting, the Iowa Caucuses as you know are scheduled for january 15th. Is that something the judge will fact aror . The judge can factor in, but its sort of irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the trial. Look, theres points along the way, to back up thence that elie was saying. That only leaves ten working days from the time the trial starts until the holidays begin. Thats just not a lot of time to pick a jury in a matter this sensitive. The judge can factor in things like the Iowa Caucuses, but look, this is going to be a long process thats going to stretch, if it starts in january probably into the spring. The way caucuses arent the only matter. Youre absolutely right. Paula, as we learn today, the nine michigan socalled Fake Electors were actually arraigned on felony charges today. How difficult could this case end up being for the prosecutors to prove . Its a fascinating case, a first of its kind. You have six michigan republicans who have been charged for felonies for their role in the fake elector scheme, to help turn over the election. And they are going to challenge this as a novel issue, because its such an unprecedented case. We will watch it, of course, guys, thank you very much. Coming up, at least four republican candidates have signed the partys socalled Loyalty Pledge, despite Donald Trumps refusal to say hell support the eventual nominee. First, we go b